Ship&#39;s-bell clock.



P. LUX. SHIPS BELLS CLOCK.

uruonxon' FILED MAY ,11, 1908.

Patented July-13, 1909;

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

P. LUX. SHIPS BELLS CLOCK. APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1908.

Patented July 13, 1909.

8' SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ANDRiW- n. GRMAM 00.. PNOYO u'mocmm zws. WASHIHG'ION. 0. c.

P. LUX. SHIPS BELLS CLOCK;

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 1908.

7,5 Patented July 13, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

,ANDREW. rs. mmuu (1a., PHDYO-LIYHOGRAPHERS. WASHINGTON. n. cv

view of the clock.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL LUX, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO WATERBURY CLOCK CO., OFWATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

SHIPS-BELLS CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL LUX, a citizen of the United States, residingat Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Ships-Bells Clocks; and I dohereby declare the following, when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and the numerals of reference marked thereon, tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which saiddrawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure improved the hour.

1 a view in rear elevation of my ships bells clock ready to strike Fig.2 a corresponding view showmg the parts in their positions at the closeof striking the half hour with one hammer in its elevation position.Fig. 3 a plan Fig. 4 a view thereof in vertical section looking rearwardtoward the inner face of the rear movement-plate and showing the liftinglever and lifting cam, as well as the fourth wheel of the striking trainand the two hammer-springs. Fig. 5 a detached view in elevation of thehalf-hour eccentric. Fig. 6 a corresponding view of the half-hourswitch. Fig. 7 a plan view thereof. Fig. 8 a detached view showing thehalf-hour lever and the combined hammerlifting arm, and half-hour fingerof the outside hammer. Fig. 9 an edge view of the parts shown in Fig. 8.Fig. 10 a detached view in elevation of the locking lever. Fig. 11 aplan view thereof. Fig. 12 a detached view of the snail. Fig. 13 acorresponding view of the rack. Fig. 14 a detached view in elevation ofthe gathering hub. Fig. 15 a plan view thereof.

My invention relates to an improvement in ships bells clocks, that is tosay, clocks constructed to strike ships time instead of land time, shipstime dividing the twentyfour hours of a day into six watches, eachdivided into half hour spaces counted from the beginning of each watchso that the half hours are always struck on an odd number. Thus theforenoon watch from 8 to 12 a. m. will be struck as follows :-8 oclock 8bells, 8:30 oclock 1 bell, 9 oclock 2 bells, 9:30 oclock 3 bells, 10oclock 4 bells, 10:30 oclock 5 bells, 11 oclock 6 bells, 11 :30 oclock 7bells.

My present invention relates to ships bells clocks of the type employingtwo hammers,

the object being to produce a simple, compact and reliable clock.

WVith these ends in view my invention consists in a ships bells clockhaving certain details of construction and combinations of parts as willbe hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a rack-arm 2 hungupon a stud 3 mounted in the rear movement-plate 4, the arm beingfurnished with a segmental rack 5 formed at its lower end with alocking-notch 7 and an outwardly bowed guardfinger 8. A snail-finger 9mounted concentrically with the arm 2 and rigid therewith is formed atits end with a beveled finger 1O riding upon the edge of a snail 11carried by a hub 12 turning loosely upon the centerarbor 13 and alsocarrying a wheel 14 meshing into a pinion 15 rigid with a wheel 16loosely turning upon a stud 17 and meshing into a pinion 18 fixed uponthe arbor 13, the said pinions and Wheels being calculated so that thehourly rotation of the pinion 16 will effect the rotation of the snail11 once in four hours. The snail 11 it may be noted, is plotted withreference to controlling the dropping of the arm 2 and rack inaccordance with the requirements of striking ships bells on the hour andon the half hour conformably with the schedule above given.

Upon the projecting rear end of the arbor 13 I fix a halfhour eccentric19 making an hourly revolution with the said arbor 13 and hourlycoacting with a skeleton-like pivotal half-hour switch 20 suspended atits upper end from a pin 21 in the upper end of a locking-lever 22turning upon a stud 23 passing through its lower end and mounted in thesaid plate 4, this lever being formed at its extreme lower end with ashoulder 24 for engagement by a spring 25 attached to the said plate 4by a screw 26 and exerting a constant effort to throw the lever 22 fromleft to right. The reason for the characterization of the eccentric l9and switch 20 by the term half hour will appear later on. The saldlocking-lever 22 is lifted from right to left against the tension of thespring 25 by means of a lifting pin 27 carried by it and projectinginward from it through a slot 28 in the plate 4 into position to beengaged by the bevel 29 of a lifting-lever 30 carried by an arbor 31 andformed with a beveled finger j 32 successively engaged by the two teeth33 of a. lifting-cam 34 revolving once an hour with the arbor 13 uponwhich it is mounted in position to lie close to the inner face of theplate 4. The said cam 34 by its teeth 33 lifts the said lifting-lever 30against the tension of its spring once every 30 minutes whereby thelocking-lever 22 is lifted once every 30 minutes from right to leftagainst the tension of its spring 25. As the said locking-lever 22 islifted from right to left as described, the locking-pin 36 carried by itis lifted out of the locking-notch 7 in the rack 5 which is thusunlocked and left free to drop until the snail-finger 9 engages with theedge of the snail 11 the position of which determines the extent towhich the rack drops, and therefore the number of its teeth which passbelow the locking-pin 36. This unlocking of the rack takes place justbefore the locking-lever 22 reaches the limit of its lifting movementunder the action of the cam 34. As the lever is still further lifted thelocking-finger 37 bent inward at a right angle from its extreme upperend and extending inward through a slot 38 in the rear movement plate 4,is disengaged from a stop-pin 39 in the fourth wheel 40 of the strikingtrain which on being released, starts the gathering-hub 42 mounted uponthe projecting rear end of the arbor 43 of the third wheel 43 of thestriking train, which may be of any approved construction. The said hub42 is furnished with a gathering-pin 44 which, as the hub 42 revolvesfrom right to left, engages with the teeth of the rack and lifts thesame tooth by tooth until its locking-notch 7 has been registered withthe locking-pin 36 of the locking-lever 22 which is then swung by itsspring 25 from left to right, whereby its looking-finger 37 is broughtinto position to collide with the stop-pin 39 and thus stop the wheel 40and arrest the striking train. The gatheringhub 42 is provided with twohammer-lifting pins 45, 46, the former being, as shown, merely anextension of the gathering-pin 44 which is located considerably closerto the center of the hub 42 than the pin 46.

The hammer-lifting pin 45 extends inward from the hub 42 for engagementwith the end of a hammer-lifting arm 47 secured to a hammer-hub 48 whichis mounted upon a hammer-hub screw-stud 49 in the movement-plate 4, thehammer-hub 48 being provided with an inwardly projecting pin 50 whichengages with a hammer-spring 51 mounted upon the inner face of the plate4 as shown in Fig. 4. The said hub 48 has mounted in it a hammer-tail 52carrying a hammer 53 which, for convenience, I shall hereafter speak ofas the outer hammer. The said hammer-lifting pin 46 projects forwardfrom the gathering-hub 42 and engages with the end of a hammer-liftingarm 54 secured to a hammer-hub 55 also mounted upon the stud 49aforesaid, and provided with an inwardly pro ecting pin 56 engaging witha hammer-spring 57 applied to the inner face of the movement plate 4also shown in Fig. 4, the hub 48 being formed in its periphery with anotch 58 for the clearance of the pin 56 and the hub 55 being formedwith a notch 59 for the clearance of the hammer-tail 52. The said hub 55has mounted in it a hammer-tail 60 carrying a hammer 61 located closeto, but, so to speak, inside of the hammer 53 before mentioned and forthat reason I shall speak of it as the inner hammer. Under thisconstruction the outer and inner hammers have a common axis, namely, thescrew stud 49, and the hammers having a common axis are thereforeadapted to be operated by a single gathering-hub 42 which may thereforebe said to be common to both hammers. The pins 45 and 46 being locatedrelatively near each other, operate to successively lift the hammers 53and 61 in quick succession so as to give the effect of a double strokeon the bell which is not shown. If preferred I might have a bell foreach hammer. The gathering-pin 44 forming a part of the hammerliftingpin 45 is located so close to the center of the gathering-hub 42, thatin the rotation of the said hub, it clears the end of the hammer-liftingarm 4?. Every time the hub 42 makes a revolution both hammers will belifted and dropped so as to cause each of them to strike the bell oncewith a short interval between the strokes after the manner of striking aships bell by hand. To this last statement exception must be made thaton the half hours throughout the watches the bell is struck an oddnumber of strokes as already explained, one of the two ha1n mers must becaught and not allowed to fall the second time at the end of strokingthe half hours. For this purpose I employ a half-hour finger 62 madeintegral with the hammer-lifting arm 47 and formed at its lower end witha toe 63 arranged to strike into a hole 64 in an arm 65 turned outwardat a right angle from the outer end of a horizontally arranged half-hourlever 66 located adjacent to the outer face of the lockinglever 22 andbelow the rack 5 and rocking upon a stud 67 in the plate 4. This leveris furnished with a spring 68. Its rocking movement is limited by twostop-pins 69 and 70 and its inner end is beveled for co action with therounded lower end of the half-hour switch 20 the swinging movement ofwhich is limited by a stop pin 71 in the locking lever 22. A spring 7 2tends always to swing the said switch from left to right. The half-houreccentric 19 is fixed upon the center arbor 12 so that when the hoursare struck, the eccentric will reach the limit of its movement to theright where it gives the maximum clearance for the half-hour switch 20.Therefore when at the conclusion of the rack-gathering function, thelocking-pin 36 drops into the locking-notch 7 in the rack 5 and thelocking-lever 22 is swung from left to right by its spring 25 thehalf-hour switch 20 finds nothing to collide with as it descends withthe lockinglever 22 by which it is carried. It therefore fails tooperate the halfhour lever 66 and the hammer 53 is not caught on thesecond stroke, but allowed to fall and strike the bell. During the neXthalf hour, however, the half-hour eccentric 19 is moved into itsoperating position, that is to say, to the limit of its movement to theright.

Now when at the conclusion of the rackgathering function the locking-pin36 drops into the locking-notch 7 and the locking-lever 22 is againswung from left to right by its spring 25, the half-hour switch 20 inits descent collides with the halfhour eccentric 19 as shown in Fig. 2,whereby the switch is forced to perform a swinging movement from rightto left against .the tension of its spring 72.' As the switch is thusforced by the eccentric to move from left to right, it engages with thebeveled inner end of the half-hour lever (36 and crowds down upon thesame so as to cause the outer end of the said lever to be lifted againstthe tension of its spring 68 as shown in Fig. 2, just in time to causethe toe (33 of the halfhour finger 62 to be caught in the hole 64 of thearm 65 of the half-hour lever, whereby the hammer 53 will, as it isreleased, by one or the other of the gathering-pins 45, be caught in itselevated position and not allowed to fall and make its second strokeupon the bell. This catching of the hammer- 53 in its uplifted positiononly takes place on the half-hour and insures the odd stroke on thehalf-hour characteristic of ships bells. In this way I provide forstriking ships bells on the hour and half hour without discarding thecustomary double stroke on the hours.

It will be observed that the two hammers and their hubs andhammer-lifting levers, and gathering-hub, and rack, and means foroperating the rack, and means for catching one of the two hammers on theupstroke on the half hours, are compactly arranged upon the rear orouter faces of the rear movement-plate substantially on one side of thevertical center thereof.

I claim In a ships bells clock, the combination with the rear and frontmovement-plates thereof, of two hammers, two hammer-hubs respec tivelycarrying the said hammers and mounted upon a common axis projectingrearwardly from the rear or outer face of the rear movement-plate, twohammer-lifting levers respectively connected with the said hammer-hubsfor the operation thereof, a gathering-hub located upon a studprojecting from the rear face of the rear movementplate, hammer-liftingpins mounted in the said hub and respectively coaeting with the saidhammer-lifting levers, a gathering-pin in the gathering-hub, a racklocated upon the rear face of the said rear movement-plate and coaetingwith the gathering-pin, means for operating the rack, and mechanism forcatching one of the two hammers on the up-stroke on the half hours whichare indicated by an odd number of strokes.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

PAUL LUX. Witnesses CLEMENT I. Gnrees, CLIFFORD B. Mourns.

